Kitchen Renovation-Grateful

For as long as I can remember, I’ve aspired to become a home owner. My mother was a real estate broker who helped several Adirondackers buy their first homes. I never imagined my personal dream would became a reality 3,213 miles away from where I grew up.

Tackling the kitchen was something I dreaded after experiencing a complete renovation during my time living at the Donahoe’s. It’s a lot of work, it’s dirty and exhausting. There’s plenty of pizza, Chinese takeout and microwaved meals. Maggie persuaded me into tackling this since kitchen and bathrooms are the number one things to renovate when looking to add value to any home. We view this as an investment, so we figured we might as well get busy!

Given that our House Hunters episode is right around the corner, I felt this was the perfect time to share this kitchen transformation. I’m completely aware of how blessed we both are and am truly grateful that we were able to convert the space into something we are both enormously proud of. I can’t take any credit for the design of the kitchen—I left this to the brains of the house.

Initially, we were hoping that the exposed brick above the stove would be in good enough condition to restore. After exposing it, we realized it was not and had to make a quick decision. We opted to use reclaimed brick slip tiles to give us the same effect. We both felt this upcycled addition to our kitchen paid homage to our history at Middlebury, where we first met. While we considered tackling some DIY concrete countertops, our handyman Steve talked us out of it – the cost of granite, though expensive, wasn’t as high as we thought, and of course there was less margin for error. The team over at Mayfield Granite gave us an excellent price and the Kashmir White countertops are a focal point in the room. As crazy as this sounds, one of the most eye-catching transformations (and least expensive) was changing the hardware on the cabinets. So, if you want a quick alteration to your kitchen and want to save a bit of cheddar, start with some new knobs and pulls!

Sending love to all, as always.

-Tom